AMC has another winner on its hands with “The Killing” (8 p.m., AMC). Shot in Vancouver, “Killing” makes the most of the region’s gloomy weather. But don’t go looking for “X-Files” or “Twin Peaks,” this murder mystery is thoroughly rooted in grim reality, following three overlapping threads linked to a teenager’s brutal murder.

Mireille Enos (“Big Love”) is compelling as Sarah Linden, the lead homicide investigator who was scheduled to leave for a sunnier life in California the day the case broke open.

Her serious mien and decidedly unglamorous looks gives “Killing” a distinctly British or European feel. It’s refreshing to watch a series where a cop doesn’t have to look like a movie star. Billy Campbell, who does look like a movie star, appears as Darren Richmond, a seemingly idealistic candidate for mayor who is drawn into the case in unexpected ways. Michelle Forbes (“Battlestar Galactica”) and Brent Sexton round out the cast as the victim’s grieving blue-collar parents. Don’t watch “The Killing” if you don’t want to get hooked.

• Gorgeous, lavish, well acted and a tad slow, “The Borgias” (8 p.m., Showtime) offers an artful and art-filled history of bloody church intrigue and dynastic dysfunction. Jeremy Irons as the infamous Rodrigo Borgia who becomes crowned Pope Alexander VI soon into episode one. Colm Feore stars as a rival cardinal, and Lotte Verbeek portrays the pope’s mistress, Giulia Farnese, a woman he seduces during the rite of confession!

“The Borgias” is lovely to look at, but the miniseries offers viewers little explanation as to the family’s origins or the reasons for their power.

• Speaking of decadent Catholic dynasties, “The Kennedys” (7 p.m., Reelz) will air over eight episodes. Strangely, while “The Borgias” neglects to offer explanation and context, “The Kennedys” offers too much, rehashing a tale of a thousand-day presidency told at least a thousand times.

A handsome and well-produced effort that only occasionally slides into waxworks, the pilot is dominated by Tom Wilkinson as family patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy. Greg Kinnear does a remarkable job joining the ranks of pop history’s JFK imitators but like Katie Holmes as Jackie, he seems to spend the first hour just getting used to his hairdo.

There have been better and far worse portraits of the famous family. “The Kennedys” is rather famous and controversial for having been produced and abandoned by the History Channel for reasons still unclear. In an article in the New York Times, a History Channel executive said the film’s dramatic approach was “not a fit for the History brand.” The fact that this miniseries was ditched at the same time the channel is in cahoots with Larry the Cable Guy tells you all you need to know about the state of the “History brand.”

Tonight’s other highlights

• Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (6 p.m., CBS): mortgage foreclosures, gospel music.

• To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States, PBS will re-air Ken Burns’ landmark 1990 series “The Civil War” (7 p.m., PBS, check local listings), tonight through Thursday.

• Reba McEntire and Blake Shelton host the Academy of Country Music Awards (7 p.m., CBS).